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The success of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has raised questions about the future of one-day and Test cricket.
Plans are already afoot to repackage Test cricket to make it more exciting. A world championship of Tests is likely on the cards.
The immediate threat seems more to the one-day format than Tests. It is feared that people will lose patience with the 50-over game as the same thrills are being offered in the Twenty20 format.
All this seems to be a bit of an overreaction to the IPL success. The game has to move on and progress and that is what it has done.
Back in the 1970s, when cricket's greatest innovator, Kerry Packer, made one-day cricket and coloured clothing popular, there was a major hue and cry.
But cricket survived the Packer revolution and even adopted some of the good points of his 'circus'.
Unfortunately cricket is a game run by a bunch of staid individuals who live within the castles they have built for themselves.
Administrators like Lalit Modi, who played a big part in the IPL success, have shown the way forward. It is now up to the cricket authorities to look closely at the game and come up with some bright ideas to spruce up the game.
Traditional cricket won't die, for sure. It has survived from the time W G Grace strode on to the cricket fields in England. It has gone through three centuries and still offers the same excitement it did. It survived two World Wars and numerous other incidents.
The third Test match at Trent Bridge between England and New Zealand, which England won by an innings and nine runs to wrap up the three-match series 2-0, drew a full house.
There are still millions of fans who prefer Test matches to any other form of cricket. Test matches are now played at a faster pace and are much more result-oriented than ever before.
Australia pioneered the four per over run rate over the last 20 years or so and many other teams in the world have followed this.
The threat to the one-day format will only be temporary. Once the IPL becomes history, fans will throng the one-dayers once again.
The danger seems to be more in the cricket-mad Subcontinent than anywhere else. Fickle fans there will take more time to realise that there are other forms of the game which are equally exciting.
One-day and Twenty20 cricket have survived in both England and South Africa without any hitches.
The danger, if any, will be for tournaments like the IPL because there is a chance of overkill. The money and glamour associated with it may be difficult to sustain.
The Twenty20 threat will be short-lived. Cricket will survive.
